His Excellency, Premier, ladies and gentlemen; on 17th April I informed the community that another BVI resident had tested positive for COVID-19 through local testing, and that the sample would be sent to CARPHA for confirmatory testing.

On Thursday you heard from the Honourable Minister of Health on a further case of COVID-19 within the Territory. We are deeply sorry to have to confirm that the patient has since died, despite the best efforts of our medical professionals.

I have been informed by the Unified Command Team of the Health Emergency Operations Centre that an additional case of Covid-19 has been identified, swabbed and locally tested at the Dr. D. Orlando Smith Hospital.